As the battle for survival tightens at the bottom of the standings, the Alaska Aces left the GlobalPort Batang Pier in the dust with a 133-106 finish at the Ynares Center in Antipolo on Wednesday.
Ladontae Henton had 33 points to lead all scorers, together with 13 rebounds, four assists and five three-pointers. Calvin Abueva tallied 21 markers and eight boards, while Chris Banchero chipped in 20 points and four dimes in the win.
After a manageable cushion at the break, Alaska broke loose in the second half as they scored 38 points each in the last two quarters. However, Batang Pier were still able to keep in step behind a hot start from downtown to begin the third quarter.
Import Michael Glover had 19 of his team’s 36 points in the third, but his team failed to go head-to-head in the one-sided fourth period. Fortunately for the Aces, a combined effort from the trio of Calvin Abueva, JVee Casio, and Henton provided the game-deciding rampage to improve their chances of heading into the playoffs.
Terrence Romeo finished with 26 points for GlobalPort on 10-of-17 shooting, alongside six assists and four turnovers. Michael Glover finished with 25 points and five rebounds in the losing effort.
The high-fueled offensive match ended with Alaska shooting an impressive 55 percent from the floor, and having more assists than the Batang Pier at 26 to 19. Moreover, Henton led the inside charge to pace Alaska’s 56 points in the paint compared to Batang Pier 42.
Alaska improves to a 3-5 record, together with GlobalPort. They are still half a game behind the coveted eighth seed, as they look to avoid being in the bottom four group that won’t see action in the next round.
GlobalPort will have less than 24 hours to bounce back from this defeat, as they will next face the NLEX Road Warriors on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. On the other hand, Alaska will have the surging Phoenix Petroleum on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Scores:
Alaska (133) – Henton 33, Abueva 21, Banchero 20, Casio 13, Thoss 13, Jazul 10, Baclao 6, Galliguez 6, Racal 6, Exciminiano 2, Mendoza 2, Hontiveros 1, Magat 0.
GlobalPort (106) – Romeo 26, Glover 25, Pringle 20, Yeo 11, Semerad 9, Washington 6, Taha 5, Mamaril 4, Dehesa 0, Fortuna 0, Kramer 0, Paredes 0 .
Quarterscores: 29-25, 57-48, 95-84, 133-106
